The present invention relates to information technologies and, more particularly, relates to systems and methods for prioritizing communications, such as e-mail and voice messages.
Communications and information technologies systems and processes are attracting significant attention and innovation. The many new developments and venues for communications and information transfers is increasingly becoming overwhelming in quantity of exchanges between communicators. E-mail and voice messages are typical examples.
With e-mail, so-called xe2x80x9cspamxe2x80x9d and other widely broadcast or unimportant and undesired information communications have become problematic. The typical recipient of e-mail must sift through numerous received messages of varying importance to the user. Prioritizing or otherwise segrating received e-mails presently requires that the user actively make determinations xe2x80x9con the flyxe2x80x9d as each e-mail is viewed or read. The same is true with voice mail messages, which similarly accumulate and must each be listened to or otherwise segregated or discarded through the user""s active involvement.
Various filters are being presently proposed and employed. For example, e-mail filters at the server computer may prevent certain e-mails from ever reaching the intended recipient. The filters are typically software that identify some word or characteristic of a message and systematically discard those messages, so they are never downloaded to the user. The filter software is presently typically maintained at the server computer.
The present quantity of communicated information, particularly on e-mails and voice messages, coupled with inadequacies of the present filtering mechanisms, particularly those maintained at the server of the information, are problematic. The intended recipient of the messages must actively sift through each message, prioritizing and discarding messages, as appropriate, through active involvement of the user in the process. Otherwise, software or other filters, which remove the required user involvement, arbitrarily discriminate between messages to discard and prioritize the messages, notwithstanding preferences or appropriateness of such filtering to the particular intended recipient. The intended recipient may, for example, want to receive certain messages that are being discarded or prioritized in an inappropriate manner for the particular recipient user. Alternately, the intended recipient may receive messages that the recipient does not want to receive.
Certain present filtering or differentiation mechanisms allow the recipient some degree of discretion in setting the discriminating characteristics. These present mechanisms, however, offer very limited flexibility, if any, to the recipient. In any event, although the recipient may have some discretion in setting the filter characteristics or other mechanisms for discriminating between messages, the recipient has little discretion once those characteristics are set. The intended recipient, thus, has little ability to change or vary priorities and discrimination characteristics xe2x80x9con the flyxe2x80x9d in real time.
The present invention provides advantages of providing the intended recipient greater flexibility in prioritizing and discriminating among communicated information that is received. The advantages presented are significant to the technology and art.
An embodiment of the invention is a method of sorting a received information message. A source of delivery of the message is indicated by a unique identifier accompanying the message. The method includes steps of receiving the message, looking-up the identifier in a database, assigning a code for the message per the result of the step of looking-up, and prioritizing the message according to the code.
Another embodiment of the invention is a system for sorting a received information message. A source of delivery of the message is indicated by a unique identifier accompanying the message. The system includes a database maintaining known identifiers and desired codes corresponding to the known identifiers. The system also includes a designated code different from the desired codes. The system includes means for receiving the message, means for looking-up the unique identifier in the database to determine whether the unique identifier is the same as any of the known identifiers in the database, a data code, the data code is either: (i) if the unique identifier is the same as one of the known identifiers, the one of the desired codes that corresponds to the one of the known identifiers in the database that is the same as the unique identifier, or (ii) otherwise, the data code is the designated code, means for assigning the data code for the message, and means for prioritizing the message according to the data code.
Another embodiment of the invention is a computer-readable medium of instructions. The computer-readable medium of instructions includes a message, a unique identifier corresponding to the message, means for receiving the message and the unique identifier, a database containing known identifiers and desired codes respectively corresponding to the known identifiers, a designated code, means for looking-up the unique identifier in the database to determine whether the unique identifier is the same as any of the known identifiers in the database, a data code, the data code is either: (i) if the unique identifier is the same as one of the known identifiers, the one of the desired codes that corresponds to the one of the known identifiers in the database that is the same as the unique identifier, or (ii) otherwise, the designated code, means for assigning the data code for the message, and means for prioritizing the message according to the data code.